It is depressing when it's a puppy and everyone makes excuses. The temperament problems that we have been asked to deal with or take back a dog - it's always been a puppy. It really isn't all in how you raise them.

Not in rescue but at my training facility we get a few each session. Right now we have a little lab/collie/something that is fearfully aggressive and it's tiny. It shouldn't be this way, it's unfair and makes your stomach turn. Never should a tiny, baby, cute puppy lash out and bite repeatedly with hackles flaring because it's in a melt down from merely walking in an empty room with two people.

it is. very. button came to me at about 10 to 12 weeks old with problems that at first seemed like maybe fear as a result of lack of socialization, and we did a ton of work to try to catch him up, and i thought for a while that we might actually be able to place him in a home at some point. but he was never right, and though we made progress, other issues always seemed to bleed through once we got one under control. phobias, obsessive behaviors, reactivity. i was faced with the option of putting him down or keeping him, because it was clear pretty early on that he wasn't going to be adoptable. it is truly sad and weird to work with a puppy that's got problems so deeply ingrained, whether it's due to temperament or environmental factors that create problems early on that shape the puppy's perception of the world.

Stella has been a nervebag since we adopted her as a puppy. Four years of hard work and she is manageable and has a happy life in her little bubble. Now had her fearful behavior turned into aggressive responses toward people, we would have had some seriously heartbreaking decisions to make.

I think it's hard for a lot of people, myself included, to separate emotion from what is practical, logical, SAFE.

Nothing makes us techs at work more sad then having to use a catch pole on a 3 month old puppy. Been there, and this pup was plain aggressive. This little 17# baby wanted to maim anyone that came near him and already had a history of serious bites (one before he was even adopted out to the owners that brought him in). He wasn't fearful either, he would seek someone out with the intent of injury. Our only solace was knowing that he wouldn't be able to reproduce at least. The owners got the pup from a rescue.

We just spayed a 6 month old shar pei x Boston terrier. She was SO aggressive that we had to sedate her through the bars of her hospital cage. Owners are oblivious. "she is just scared."

Last year we had a litter of shar pei/pug x border collie pups. They're issues were not apparent when we saw them at 8 weeks but when we saw a few of them a month later for boosters, three had very serious and obvious (to me at least) aggression issues. One of the owners had two very small kids. I pulled her aside to tell her early intervention with a qualified behaviorist was essential or I felt confident the dog would bite someone. Owner unable to afford it, dog ended up being rehomed or surrendered after it bit her kid.

Enzo showed tendencies if DA when I had him that we immediately started working on m, and his current family is still working on with the knowledge that it may never disappear.